Personal computer users today often open and interact with multiple applications at the same time. Media player-type applications are one of the most common applications. In a window user interface environment, the media playback window may be completely or partially obscured by other window(s) and/or minimized. In cases where the content is not visible to the users (e.g., where the media playback window may be completely or partially obscured by other window(s)), the media player software may continue to run to ensure good user experience (smooth playback) when the playback window becomes visible in the foreground. Likewise, in cases where the media playback window is of such a size to limit the ability of a user to perceive a lowered picture quality (e.g., where the media playback window may be minimized), the media player software may continue to run to ensure good user experience (smooth playback) when the playback window becomes enlarged. Accordingly, media player-type applications typically continue to request graphics processing unit (GPU) hardware to perform decode processing and/or video processing at typical user preferred quality settings.